As we celebrate this historic moment, however, we should not
fool ourselves into thinking that women are on some kind of irreversible
trajectory to reaching political parity. The current advances are a product of targeted
efforts by political parties. Unless female politicians and aspiring candidates
want to remain dependent on the salience of ‘rape’ and ‘abortions’ in the next
election cycle, they must use this moment to push beyond the so-called “women’s
issues.”

Parties can play a major role in bringing about gender parity,
but the goal of party establishments is to win a majority. Parties do not
recruit a certain type of candidate because it would build a more
representative Congress. Parties recruit candidates who can win. It is not
difficult to surmise that in the context of a “Republican war on women,” the
best Democratic candidates would be women.

The success of Democratic recruitment efforts is evident. Of the
20 women in the Senate, 16 are Democrats and 4 are Republicans. The House, with
58 Democratic and 20 Republican women, beats previous records, and white men are no longer the majority of the House Democratic Caucus. Clearly, when parties
decide to recruit and elect women, they are able to do so.

So what happens in the next election when there is no more “war
on women”? The political establishment will search for candidates who can win
on whatever issue dominates the discourse. If women want to be in the game,
then they have to use the current wave to assert their leadership and demonstrate
the value of a female perspective on all issues.

These are
just a few examples. Let’s hope that the women in Congress can show
their parties, their constituents and the country that they are not to be
confined to a narrow set of issues. Until this happens, progress toward parity will remain slow, uneven and reactionary.